Tamil Nadu has sought permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for carrying out excavations in four new places this year, K. Manivasan, Additional Chief Secretary to the government, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, said here on Friday.
He was inaugurating the third international conference to commemorate renowned epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan. It will deliberate on ‘History, science and technology of South Asian ceramics’ for five days.
The four sites would be: Marungur in Cuddalore; Kongalnagaram in Tiruppur; Thirumalapuram in Tenkasi; and Chennanur in Krishnagiri districts, he said, adding that these would be in addition to those places where excavations by the State Archaeology Department were already under way.
Commenting on the rich collection of ceramics found in various sites of archaeological interest in the State, he said it would be good for Tamil Nadu to set up a ceramics museum in Chennai. On a lighter note, he recalled how, as a student, he had accidentally unearthed an ancient Roman amphora jar from a hill near Rajapalayam, but a friend broke it thinking it was inauspicious without realising its value.K. Rajan, Academic and Research Advisor, State Archaeology Department; Alok Kumar Kanungo, Assistant Research Professor (Archaeology), IIT Gandhinagar; and Rajesh Nair, Professor, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT-Madras, spoke.
